Yes, I am a grown man. An overgrown man at that. But I haven’t been as excited about an animated movie sequel since Toy Story 2, which came out when I was still a child and it was okay for me to be excited for animated sequels. But yesterday, Universal Pictures released their third, and first full trailer for Despicable Me 2 (the first being a teaser released over a year ago, featuring the Minions doing a fantastic rendition of the Beach Boy’s Barbara Ann.

The second also centered on the Minions partaking in all sorts of zaniness, from spoofing Halloween to one in a maid’s outfit shaking it’s posterior).

With the Academy Awards still fresh in our minds, we can think of all the great films 20111 brought us. It is easy to forget that year also had tons of stinkers and flops, but the Razzie Awards are here to remind us.

The Razzie Award nominees have been announced, and their aren’t too many surprises. Adam Sandler has a record 11 nominations, and that’s not including nominations that are tied to his Happy Madison productions. Three films by the production company, Buck Larsen: Born to be a Star, Just Go With It, and Jack & Jill, all have multiple nominations each.

The Razzies, or Golden Raspberry awards, were created in 1980 as an antidote to the Oscars. They are usually held on the eve of the Academy Awards, but this year are moving to 1 April. Traditionally, stars do not turn up to collect their awards, but good sports over the years have included Paul Verhoeven in 1996 (worst director and worst picture for Showgirls), Halle Berry for 2005’s Catwoman and Sandra Bullock for 2010’s All About Steve.

Check out the nominations after the jump, and be sure to keep an eye out for these “winners” when they are announced on April 1.

With Glee going strong on Fox, The Muppets sweeping across the country, and everyone up to their ears with Christmas song, the last thing anyone wants is yet another dose of musical. And that’s just what they’re getting!

The first trailer for the star-studded film adaptation of the Broadway hit Rock of Ages is finally here, and has plenty of Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Tom Cruise for you to shake a stick at.

For those who haven’t heard of this phenomenon that swept the east coast, here’s the premise:

“Rock of Ages” tells the story of small town girl Sherrie and city boy Drew, who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rock ‘n’ roll romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Journey, Foreigner, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Poison, Whitesnake, and more.

Plenty of rock covers, and even more recognizable faces. Take a look at the trailer after the jump, and catch Rock of Ages in theaters on June 1st.

Depending upon your feelings toward Russell Brand, you will be delighted or horrified by the most recent box office weekend totals. Despite the fact that four new films opened on Friday, last weekend’s holdover Hop managed to remain on top for a second week in a row.

Brand voices a rabbit who is the main character in the film. The film dropped about 42% from last weekend, which is a little high for a kiddie flick, but it has earned $68.2 Million in its first two weeks of release.

Coming in at number two was the Arthur remake, also starring Brand in the title role. The film only made about $12.6M. That total is quite low considering the fact that the film played on over 3,276 screens. That’s only a $3,276 per/screen average.

The moody assassin movie Hanna almost overtook Arthur with $12.3 million in ticket sales, while playing on a far fewer screens (2,600).  Another newcomer placed fourth. Soul Surfer played on about 2,300 screens, and made $11.1 M.  Even more impressive was the fact that the film got a coveted A+ from audiences polled by Cinemascore. That is extremely rare. Sony Pictures reports that over 80% of the audience was female, also rare.

Something has been lost in translation in this ill-advised and disappointing remake of  Arthur (1984). The original featured the late comedic talent Dudley Moore, and was nominated for four Academy Awards. It’s a pretty safe assumption that this film won’t be picking up any trophies come awards season.

Russell Brand plays Arthur, a perpetually drunk playboy suffering from a chronic case of arrested development. He lives in a fabulous highrise building in New York, and surrounds himself with gadgets, toys, and booze.

His sole companion is his live-in nanny Hobson, played by Helen Mirren. Hobson has played the role of surrogate mom since Arthur’s birth. She accepts Arthur unconditionally, and serves as his confidante, nursemaid, and cook. Arthur also pals around with his driver Bitterman (Luis Guzman) on any given night.

The first night we see the two step out on the town, they are dressed as Batman and Robin, and Bitterman drives a Batmobile through the streets. Naturally, they get arrested, which seems to be a common occurrence for the two.

Mere moments later, Arthur has posted bail for everyone in the slammer, and all is good in the world. Arthur lives the life of unfettered hedonism, with no obvious consequences to any of his actions. It’s the life of Riley.

The top two movies this week showed a huge disconnect between critical reviews and audience satisfaction.  Case in point, Hop. The Easter tale about an adorable rabbit who is the heir to the Easter Bunny empire was soundly denounced by most critics, earning a measly 24% on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, that didn’t scare audiences away from the film, which handily won the weekend box office, earning about $38.1 million.  Considering the fact that Easter is still several weeks away, and audiences loved the film (those polled by Cinemascore gave it an A-), this film could end up earning quite a bit of money. This is the second film from new studio Illumination Entertainment. They released Despicable Me in 2010.

The feat is also impressive because there is not a lot of star power behind the film, which is a mix of live action and animation.  James Marsden is not exactly a household name, and kids don’t know or care who Russell Brand is.

A big surprise to a lot of box office prognosticators was the under-performance of Source Code. Many of us thought it was a shoo-in for first place, particularly since it is one of the most well-reviewed films of the year. However, audiences didn’t agree, and gave the film a B on Cinemascore. When it was all said and done, Source Code made about $15.1 million, just under half the cost of its budget.

Welcome to another edition of  On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• In case you were under a rock and missed the Super Bowl on Sunday, Apple has all of your favorite trailers from the telecast in glorious HD.

• Russell Brand is back in action, this time with a remake of the classic film Arthur. We can buy Luis Guzman as Robin, but Jennifer Garner being seductive? No way.

• Detroit is taking a page from their fictional history and trying to raise money to put a RoboCop statue in the center of town. That should stop all the crime.

• Amber Heard is in talks to play Ren Sonja in the upcoming remake. She already has the red hair and Amazonian body down, so she sounds like a fit!

• Now that he has that political mid-life crisis out of the way, Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking to get back into acting. Do we smell a sequel to Jingle All The Way?

• Alex Borstein has returned to play Ms. Swan to bring us a Black Swan spoof. Totally topical, right?

• For the diehard film fanatic: 100 of the greatest Noir posters ever created.

• Supercut of the Week: Because Valentines’ Day is coming up, we bring you the Epic TV Kisses Supercut.

Shakespeare’s The Tempest may be one of the most contrived and story-heavy piece of work in his collection, but that’s not stopping director Julie Taymor, who plans on bringing a direct adaptation of the play to theaters next year.

Yes, this is the same Julie Taymor who is begrudgingly bringing Spider-Man to Broadway, but she’s also the director behind Across the Universe, which introduced a whole new generation to the music of The Beatles, and adapted Shakespeare once before with Anthony Hopkins in Titus.

Now she’s at it again, with a new gang of players including Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, and Alan Cumming.

The premise is a bit confusing, so we won’t try to bog you down with the details. Instead, we have two great clips featuring Mirren, Hounsou, and Brand, which you can check out after the jump.

Catch Disney’s Tempest in theaters this Friday.

As much as people still refuse to admit it, Despicable Me was one of the highest grossing films (prior to Potter) of 2010. Since it’s July release date, the film has grossed over $500 million worldwide. That’s not much to scoff at, and now the studio is having at it again with a brand new film called Hop.

The movie is an interesting spin on growing up, told with the help of a cocky Easter bunny, played by Russell Brand. Here’s the official synopsis.

Blending state-of-the-art animation with live action, Hop tells the comic tale of Fred (James Marsden), an out-of-work slacker who accidentally injures the Easter Bunny (voiced by Russell Brand) and must take him in as he recovers.  As Fred struggles with the world’s worst houseguest, both will learn what it takes to finally grow up.

Though the blending of CGI and live action has left a bad taste in our mouthes in the past, (looking at you, Garfield 2: Tale of Two Kitties), this could prove to be a change in pace, as Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind Despicible Me is taking the reins from here.

Check out the very first trailer after the jump and catch Hop in theaters on April 1st.

Julie Taymor has made quite a lot of progress in Hollywood in the past few years. If bringing Across The Universe to theaters and Beatles music to a whole new audience wasn’t enough, she was one of the driving forces to bring Spider-Man to Broadway (whether we want it or not). Now Taymor is bringing her unique knack for stage adaptation with Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

The movie looks like an intense music video, with elements of mythology, magic, and yes, Russell Brand. Here’s the full synopsis for those who fell asleep during that 9th grade English class.

In her big-screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s mystical thriller “The Tempest,” Academy Award(R)-nominated Julie Taymor (“Across the Universe,” “Frida,” “Titus”) brings an original dynamic to the story by changing the gender of the sorcerer Prospero into the sorceress Prospera, portrayed by Oscar(R) winner Helen Mirren (“The Queen”). Prospera’s journey spirals through vengeance to forgiveness as she reigns over a magical island, cares for her young daughter, Miranda, and unleashes her powers against shipwrecked enemies in this exciting, masterly mix of romance, tragicomedy and the supernatural.

Mirren is followed by an almost Expendable-sized cast such as Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Alan Cumming, Ben Whishaw, Reeve Carney, Felicity Jones, and Tom Conti.

The film is expected to hit theaters on December 10th, but you can see what we’re going on about with the first trailer after the jump. Enjoy!